Healthy U started with a man’s passion to make good of life.
Emmanuel O. Bayot also known as EBJ is one of the vegetarians in the Philippines who chose to change his diet, change his lifestyle and live a healthy life by eating only vegetables and fruits while refraining from eating any kind of meat.
EBJ and His Veggie Restaurant
EBJ, owner of the three year old Filipino style veggie restaurant chose to make eating healthy more convenient for his family and workers by starting Healthy U. He also wanted to promote his advocacy on helping other individuals in the community find an alternative healthy diet.
His menu includes Tofu with Kangkong, Tofu Cheese Lumpia, BBQ made of soybean and meat magic, and many others. They also have malunggay soup, which is always available in their restaurant daily. Prices of their dishes range from 15- 28 pesos per serving.
He also makes malunggay bread and cookies. He even has packs of “Blissful Cookies” being sold at Gold’s Gym and The Yoga Hub (in Banilad Town Center) for 25 pesos per piece.
“Our cookies are really super high in fiber, super tasty and super nutritious,” EBJ said.
He added that the “Blissful Cookies” are made of rolled oats, mascubado sugar, peanuts, peanut butter and chocolate.
EBJ also assures that their delicious yet nutritious dishes are all free from MSGs, any additives or seasoning.
Asked about how he handles oppositions from meat-lovers, he simply answered, “What you eat is what you become. If you eat pigs then you’re going to be a pig. You’ll be sleepy, and have all the animal instincts, like fear.” The more you eat meat, the more you have those animalist instincts, he added.
For those who would visit their small restaurant and look for meat instead, he just convinces them to try their foodsince they have more nutritional value and are natural sources of protein.
“Daghang namatay sa baboy, but wala pay namatay sa gulay (Many people die from eating pork, but no one has died from eating vegetables.),” he said before admitting it is his convincing technique.
Healthy U can be found near South Western University in Urgello, Cebu City.
EBJ
Hesitant to mention his age, he has been an advocate of vegetarianism for a very long time already ---ever since he was in “high school,” he said. Right now, he’s already 44 years of being such and counting.
He eats no chicken, no pork, no beef, not even crabs. He starts his day by eating citrus fruits, bananas, raw vegetables as salads and boiled soup (all vegetables). He’s also into nutritious juice like calamansi and carrots combined. During mealtime, he eats bread, brown or red rice with malunggay, sprouted beans or tofu. He’s basically into alkaline foods—foods that cleanse the body.
With the belief that the natural source of energy is nature—soil, water and air, he has been eating crops from the soil only, which are fruits and vegetables. He also drinks lots of water daily as much as 1.5 L of water before breakfast and a total of 3 L per day, if he can. He also does breathing exercises and meditation daily like yoga twice per day, if possible.
Some of the vegetables he likes the most are tofu, tokwa, spinach (in which he said, he has his own way of cooking it), sprouted beans, coconut meat and malunggay. He’s also into making juices from lemon grass, pandan, tamarind, malunggay and kamias. He’s also into yoghurt, which is also a good source of protein.
He has his own small garden where he plants his vegetables. However, he also admitted that he often buys his vegetables and fruits at the market. He just cleans those vegetables very well by the use of salt and soda combined or sometimes, by the use of vinegar—so as to get rid of the pesticides and other chemicals attached to those crops from the market.
He said being a vegetarian is like saying “you don’t eat anything with a face.”
As an Advocate
As a vegetarian, EBJ’s world doesn’t just circle around his veggie restaurant and his healthy living. He also makes signages now and does lectures and demos in some universities. Before, he was a columnist of The Freeman and a broadcaster in some radio stations. Reminiscing his past days he said, “Writing is really beautiful”.
Currently he is planning to install fairs and exhibits in Cebu and promote it in social media.
EBJ encourages in “eating something colorful like plants and fruits to have a colorful life, as well.”
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